It seems there's an iconic John Cusack movie for every stage of our lives -- at least, for those of us of a certain age, say late twenties to mid thirties. For the awkward junior high phase, it was Sixteen Candles (okay, I know it's a stretch to call that a John Cusack film); for the cusp of adulthood, Say Anything; and now, as we start to realize we're not as young as we think we are, there's High Fidelity. Something about Cusack makes him the perfect stand-in for most of us -- he's instantly identifiable and likable, ordinary in an extraordinary way, as Stephen put it. That Everyman quality works perfectly here, translating to the screen a book that many people, myself included, feel a deep personal connection with.
The movie shifts the novel's setting from London to Chicago and substitutes more up-to-date pop culture references, but otherwise it's remarkably true to the book. Cusack nicely handles the directly-to-the-camera narration, which could have been heavy-handed or distancing. I'm not sure how much this movie will appeal to those not of my generation; it just feels like you wouldn't get as much enjoyment from it if you didn't remember, say, dancing to Katrina and the Waves in a sparsely decorated high school gym (I would like to boast, once again -- if "boast" is the correct term -- that I saw Katrina and the Waves and Chaka Khan in concert opening for Wham!). And though it's a generally lighthearted movie, I found its suggestion that you'll decide to settle down with someone mainly because you're tired of dating rather depressing.
Cusack is just perfect here -- funny and sympathetic, vulnerable but self-absorbed (he also co-wrote the script). His sister Joan, Tim Robbins, and the future ex-Mrs. Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, have clever little cameos. Cusack's record store employees are exactly as I pictured them from the novel. The only sour note in the cast is, once again, the girlfriend role. Cusack's Grosse Pointe Blank had the same problem, with my bête noire, Minnie Driver. Here, the offender is Iben Hjejle (I never heard of her either), who has the unattractively pinched, red-eyed look of Patricia Arquette. I suppose her role isn't terribly sympathetic to begin with, but I found her tremendously irritating.
Anyway, I definitely recommend the movie (and the book). As Homer Simpson would say, it's funny cause it's true.
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